WEST SEEGMILLER: Building bridges in a torn city

Last week, I attended a strategic planning meeting in West Hollywood. Residents and local leaders reviewed a recent public input campaign. As the founder of a non-partisan medical freedom coalition, I was surprised to be invited given my independent status often makes me a divisive figure among the local intelligentsia.

During discussions, I suggested reaching out to diverse stakeholders to overcome intimidation felt by some community members from City Council. I mentioned the Log Cabin Republicans. A participant flippantly remarked, “Don’t we have enough problems? We should just drown those people.” I responded calmly, “I know you’re joking, but we don’t drown people for different political opinions.” The moderators were shocked but quickly moved on.

This incident, while a small “microaggression,” highlights how commonplace dismissive remarks have become for those outside the progressive Democrat monolith dominating West Hollywood politics. I didn’t dwell on it.

Two days later, the world was stunned by an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. While details were emerging, the political environment was clear. For nearly a decade, Democratic leaders have labeled Trump an existential threat to democracy, while privately admitting the claim is exaggerated. Major NGOs like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU long ago shifted their fundraising strategy to align with this narrative. Even President Biden declared “MAGA Republicans” as effectively enemies of the state, vilifying half the voting population.

In West Hollywood, one of the nation’s most progressive cities, we haven’t been spared these theatrics.

As one of West Hollywood’s most outspoken independent voices, I’ve often stood alone on third rail issues like medical freedom, anti-war and civil liberties. Even community leaders with years of Democrat-aligned achievements like Mikkie Friedman, Steve Martin, Alan Strasburg and Larry Block have been maligned by a small clique of “new puritans,” branded with pejoratives like “hate mongers” and “racist/sexist/transphobic.”

With a history in third-party political organizing, I’ve always rejected the anti-intellectualism cultivated by the political duopoly. Early in my career, I worked extensively on human trafficking prevention, working across partisan lines to create change for at-risk populations. This often meant collaborating with right-leaning religious organizations while leading progressive sex worker rights groups to achieve our goals. These formative experiences shaped me as a leader capable of bridging divides.

However, my willingness to work across partisan lines often made me a target, especially among the most stringent “progressive” ideologues.

Last year, West Hollywood witnessed political violence when a conservative activist was attacked by an antifa-aligned assailant. The incident, caught on video, quickly went viral. Yet when I brought it up at the next City Council meeting, I was met with indifference. After the suspects’ arrests at Weho Pride, with many more serious charges dropped by the DA’s office, I interviewed the victim about seeking justice amid West Hollywood’s political leadership’s indifference.

This interview, republished by WehoOnline, was well-received. However, an antifa-aligned publication from Berkeley soon wrote a hit piece branding me a “neo-Nazi sympathizer” and maligning WehoOnline. This smear campaign has continued to cause problems for me as the producer of a nightly news program on KPFK Pacifica Radio, the oldest and most progressive independent radio network in the country.

Despite the inconveniences and sometimes threats of real physical violence that come with deviating from the party line, I’ve seen hope for building bridges where it once seemed impossible.

Earlier this year, I reached out to the Stonewall Democrats to cover an event for my news program. I was accidentally cc’d on an email warning their leadership not to talk to me because I was an “antivaxxer, q-anon, anti-trans person.” Despite my extensive work with top anti-human trafficking agencies and my lived experience as a former transgender-identifying person, these labels stuck.

Once the Stonewall Democrats realized their mistake, their leadership agreed to meet. Despite my initial suspicions, we found common ground and developed a sincere rapport. A few weeks later at Weho Pride, I found myself in friendly conversations with them, even amid heated debates. It was a rare moment of civility after years of caustic discourse in West Hollywood.

In that spirit, I’ve connected with groups like the Log Cabin Republicans, who have embraced me as an independent. Last election cycle, I was pleased when Lauren Meister and Jordan Cockeram initially agreed to speak at a Log Cabin Republican event, only to back out after slight pushback. I can understand the pressure they might have felt as candidates during an election year. Still, it was a missed opportunity to diffuse tensions and serve all West Hollywood constituents, not just the “in-crowd”.

In the aftermath of Trump’s assassination attempt, diffusing local tensions is more crucial than ever.

In the coming months, we must be prepared for political divides to be stoked by establishment powers perfecting the game of divide and conquer. But in our little hamlet of West Hollywood, let’s remember we still have to live together after the election is over. Let’s resist seeing our neighbors as enemies for holding different views. Let’s be good neighbors first; the rest will sort itself out.